Programs

About Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation:

Founded in 2003, Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation (CCAC) raises funds for childhood cancer charities in Canada. CCAC states that 1,700 children under the age of 19 are diagnosed with cancer every year and childhood cancer is the leading disease-related cause of death in Canadian children. For the 75% of childhood cancer patients who beat the disease, over 50% suffer late effects of the disease and treatment. CCAC funds charities with programs in one of three focus areas: quality of life, family support, and research. CCAC’s granting activities totaled $3.1m in F2018 and funded 34 childhood cancer charities.

One of Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation's major granting activities is funding charities that run camp programs for children with cancer, and their families. These camps give kids and their families a break from the disease. Funded charities include Camp Trillium, Camp Quality, Camp Oochigeas, and Kids Cancer Care Alberta. CCAC reports $1.3m in camping program grants in F2018, making up 32% of total grants. With the help of CCAC funding, Camp Quality reports that it ran seven weeks of camp in 2018, Camp Trillium ran eight camps, and in a 2016 report Camp Kindle had 709 campers across all its programs.

Research grants go to charities conducting childhood cancer research that investigate new treatment options and treatments that prevent unwanted after effects in cancer survivors. CCAC reports that in F2018, it granted $1.3m to research programs at children’s hospitals across Canada, making up 32% of total grants.

CCAC's family support grants go to charities with programs that help childhood cancer patients and their families get through the hardships of treatment and other stresses that come with cancer. This includes financial support programs for families who cannot work full time because they must care for their sick child and face problems related to paying rent and other everyday living costs. CCAC granted $1.4m in F2018 for family support programs, making up 36% of total grants.

Results and Impact

In a 2016 report, Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario, one of CCAC’s grantees, explains its Successful Academic and Vocational Training initiative’s counsellors received 266 new referrals, of which 104 have applied, are attending or have been accepted to a post-secondary school, and 30 are employed or exploring career opportunities.

CCAC grants funds to Garron Family Cancer Centre at Sick Kids Hospital. This center reports that as a result of advancements in research and patient care, children diagnosed with cancer now have a 83% survival rate.

Finances

Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation is medium-sized charity with total donations of $4.1m in F2018. Administrative costs are 21% of revenues and fundraising costs are 17% of total donations. For every dollar donated, 62 cents go to the cause, which is not within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation reports three types of donations: tax-receipted donations ($3.0m in F2018), other donations ($603k), and corporate sponsorships ($497k). CCAC’s primary operating goal is 100% flow-through of tax-receipted donations into grants to other charities. If this is assumed, fundraising costs are 63% of non-receipted and corporate donations, and administrative costs are 68% of revenues less receipted donations. If we account for 100% of every receipted donated dollar going toward the charity’s mission, this would mean that ($0.31) of every non-receipted donated dollar goes toward grants. This means that the charity did not meet its operating goal in F2018, as some portion of tax-receipted donations had to go towards overhead costs.

In F2017, CCAC’s five largest grants went to Trillium Childhood Cancer Support Centre ($763k), SickKids Foundation ($714k), Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario ($700k), Kids Cancer Care Alberta ($258k), and Cancer Care Manitoba Foundation ($109k) as reported in the charity’s T3010 CRA filing. The F2018 T3010 filing was not available at the time of this profile update.

CCAC’s funding reserves of $304k can cover one month of annual granting activities.

Notice to Donors: Following the discovery of fraudulent spending by a previous board member in F2014, CCAC underwent a forensic audit that identified disbursement of $426k in unauthorized payments during the fiscal year. This amount is recognized as an expense in other costs in F2017 in the financial analysis below. CCAC is pursuing repayment of the misused funds from the former board member and will account for any recovered amounts as they are received. Cost of $141k in F2016 and $28k in F2015, also reported in other costs, represent amounts paid to another defendant in the civil action.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Coast to Coast Against Cancer for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

UPDATED July 2016: Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation took swift and decisive action when internal financial irregularities became apparent in 2014; which ultimately led to successful civil litigation and an ongoing criminal case. All stakeholders were advised directly on the issue while new auditors, revised internal procedures and new financial and operational controls were established. An expanded, committed and active Board of Directors has been in place since early 2015. This Board now represents a diverse set of experience and skills including several senior executives from a variety of industries, two members with Chartered Public Accountant (CPA) professional designations and two lawyers. All operations have continued uninterrupted and most importantly, we continue to meet our goal of distributing 100% of our receipted donations to charities that support the Foundations goals and mission.

Charity Contact

Website: www.ctcacf.orgThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The information in this report was prepared by Charity Intelligence Canada and its independent analysts from publicly-available information. Charity Intelligence Canada and its analysts have made endeavours to ensure that the data in this report is accurate and complete but accept no liability.

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